Increasing buys in the final minutes of Thurday's session on the HCM City Stock Exchange helped the market end two days of declines and lifted the VN-Index to a close of 519.73, a gain of 1.74 per cent.
Although the volume of trade continued sliding, reaching just over 45 million share, the combined value of trades remained solid at VND2.1 trillion (US$111 million).
Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) became the most active share with nearly 4 million traded, buoyed by the an announcement yesterday that SSI would issue bonus shares to exising shareholders at 1:1 ratio. The brokerage also said it would offer 3 million additional shares to its staff at a preferential price of 50 per cent of the market price. SSI yesterday closed up 2.84 per cent to VND90,500.
Bao Viet Securities Company analyst Nguyen Xuan Binh, suggesting the two-day correction earlier this week may have had a hidden and extraordinary cause, predicted that yesterday's session would signal a returning rally. But Nguyen Duy Tan, a broker with a Ha Noi-based securities firm, said that trading volumes were gradually declining, indicating some hesitation among investors. "Investors haven't reawakened yet," he said.
Concerns that inflation would make a comeback might be the factor fueling the hesitation, Tan said, noting that petrol distributor Petrolimex had posted a loss this week, suggesting a fuel price increase might be on the way.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 1.4 per cent on the day to close at 170.59. The value of trades reached VND1 trillion ($52.6 million) on a volume of 29.7 million shares. Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) was once again the most-active share on the northern market, with 3.8 million traded.
Foreign investors bucked the prevailing trend on the southern market by selling off a net of 400,000 shares, but they were net buyers on the northern bourse, picking up 750,000 share.